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Phoebe Blackwell of East Flat Rock said the route goes right through her backyard.

“People come from all over the world to drive down the parkway and if you can see towers going across these lovely hills, what are they going to think?” said Blackwell.

She is one of the thousands to sign the petition to stop the Duke Energy Modernization Project.

The project would put a transmission substation near Campobello that will be connected to the Asheville power plant by 40 miles of transmission lines.

The lines would also go through Jaime Henderson’s community in Fletcher.

“It's going to run right through our view line and effect views all around in here in Fletcher, Arden, and Fairview. They are all going to see this line because it runs right over the mountain,” said Henderson.

He is encouraging more people in his community to stand up to Duke Energy.

“If they decide to put a new line in, they should force the president of Duke to put a tower in his back yard and have him live with it, because that's what we are going to have to do,” said Henderson.

Henderson said the lines should go through the existing rights of way.

News 4 asked Duke Energy about that.

Spokesman Ryan Mosier said the company is looking to co-locate new lines where possible among existing lines, but will still need to build new structures to accommodate all of the lines.

Mosier also said the project is necessary to keep up with the demand in customers.

Duke Energy promises to take concerns of the community into consideration to minimize cultural and environmental effects.

“If we let them do this, put pristine values over pristine mountains, we are going to lose it all. There will be nothing left,” said Henderson.

One of the groups against this project will be holding a community meeting Tuesday, August 11. It will be held at the Hoopers Creek Community Center in Fletcher.